Say hello to Westwood’s new label. Thanks to California Assembly Bill 1798, a new law passed unanimously by both the Assembly and Senate and expected to be signed by the Governor, “…any wine bottled on or after January 1, 2014, labeled with an American Viticultural Area established pursuant to federal law that is located entirely within a county of the 19th class, to bear the designation “Sonoma County” on the label… in a type size not smaller than two millimeters…”
Um… no.
Under current regulations, the real estate on our label where we plunk the appellation of origin looks like this: 
Under the new law we will have to lose the vineyard designation and add “Sonoma County” — unless we completely re-design the label: 
As I stated before, um… no. Am I the only one who thinks “Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County” looks ridiculously redundant? And demeaning to Sonoma Valley (or for that matter, to Sonoma Mountain, or even to Sonoma Coast)? Honestly, since this proposal was first mooted I have not spoken with a single producer who thinks this is a good idea.
So who do we have to thank for this brilliant plan? Who is it who has decided they can compel me by law to do their marketing for them? Well, the bill was authored by Assemblymembers Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) and co-authored by Senators Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa).
Tom Wark has a good piece up on his blog where he describes this as a government “taking” — an exercise of eminent domain. But I’ll give the legislators the benefit of the doubt. They are just politicians with a lot on their plates, who perhaps were presented information that suggested this was uncontroversial. I hope they got a lot of money from the people who wanted this law. Clearly I and the others who oppose the “conjunctive labeling” requirement did not contribute enough $$$.
No, the proposal originated with the Sonoma County Vintners Association and the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission. It’s a great big “me too” because Napa Valley has a similar law. And of course everybody in Sonoma County knows we have to do everything that Napa does. Really.
Well, I have no use at all for “Sonoma County.” Done with it. And definitely done with the SCVA and SCWC (Larry Levine old friend? how can you associate yourself with this?). Note to these two organizations: no more money from us.
by emily
22 Sep 2010 at 16:50
This is ridiculous, John. Why are they doing that? Obviously there are not enough wine drinkers in that Senate. Is it official? This must be done, as of 2014?
by John M. Kelly
22 Sep 2010 at 17:23
It’s a total BS “let’s all dress up the barn and put on a show!” marketing scam. I don’t know if the Guv’nator has signed it yet. I’ve sent a letter asking for a veto, in order to make the bungholes come back with a better bill (or none) but he’ll probably sign it anyway. Then when I refuse to comply and the TTB rejects my applications for certificates of label approval, or the ABC threatens to rescind our production permit, I will unleash the hounds of hell on the people responsible for this bit of douchebaggery. I put up a Facebook page “Just Say NO To AB 1798” if you want to see more. Tell your friends.
Pingback
by Geography Pet Peeve « notes from the winemaker
20 Oct 2010 at 19:25
[...] now that we all have to promote Sonoma County let’s get it straight: Sonoma County is not Sonoma, Healdsburg is not Sonoma. Only Sonoma is [...]